There is a growing demand, particularly from women, for massaging equipment that enables users to massage themselves.
While such a requirement may appear simple to satisfy at first sight, it turns out to be difficult in practice, and none of the presently available equipment is entirely satisfactory.
Massaging is a complex operation which, over the centuries, has been performed by specialists who have devised numerous techniques that achieve the desired effects with varying degrees of success.
A masseur uses all ten fingers of the hands and holds them in various positions relative to the body being massaged. The slope of the fore-arm, the position of the fingers, the parts of the fingers that come into contact with the body are just some of the factors that the masseur can vary while massaging to determine the type of massage being performed.
Some of the massaging equipment currently available is difficult to hold, which makes it clumsy to use and quickly tires the user.
Further, most such equipment is not very effective, and there is even some equipment on the market that is likely to do more harm than good in that it leads to bruising of the skin if the user presses too hard.
Massagers have been tried which use flexible blades, but results have been disappointing, and further the massagers have been difficult to use single-handed.
Preferred massagers in accordance with the present invention are an improvement over those mentioned above. They are also simple to manufacture, and can be used for more than one kind massaging action.